LEAD: Russian police arrest 250 anti-Kremlin protesters

Dec 6, 2011, 18:33 GMT

Moscow - Russian police arrested more than 250 people at a demonstration held in Moscow Tuesday to protest the results of the parliamentary election won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and criticised by observers as fraudulent.

The government had already sent troops to the capital after anti-Putin demonstrators took to the streets for a second day.

Vasily Panchenkov, a government spokesman, said Interior Ministry military units were tasked with keeping order and ensuring 'the safety of citizens'.

All the soldiers were from units based around Moscow and would reinforce the city's police force, the Interfax news agency quoted Panchenkov as saying.

On Monday thousands of people protested at alleged ballot-stuffing and other irregularities in Sunday's election in which United Russia saw its parliamentary majority shrink.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the election was 'neither free nor fair'. She was speaking at a meeting of the 56-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vilnius, Lithuania.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said 'We have taken note of the reports by the OSCE election monitors in Russia with concern.'

Russia still had some ways to go before fulfilling the OSCE standards, he added.

Anti-government demonstrations also took place in the Baltic port city of St Petersburg. Both St Petersburg and Moscow voters gave very low support to United Russia, according to official ballot counts.

International observers said Sunday's election was marred by irregularities. Kremlin spokesmen have dismissed those charges, saying United Russia is the most popular political party in the country and is supported by half of the population.

United Russia, led by President Dmitry Medvedev and Putin, obtained 49.54 per cent of the vote, enough to give it 238 seats in the 450-member national legislature, the Duma.

Putin is eyeing an almost certain return to the Kremlin in a presidential election on March 4.